Creating Videos

In this 60 second video (made in 2006) I introduce you to the spectacle and drama of flight simulation.
Soundtrack: "MiGMan Fanfare" composed by Peter Inglis.
Virtual Pilot | Video editing: Peter Inglis.

A-10 Cuba year: 1996 developer: Parsoft Interactive publisher: Activisiontags: Combat description: A-10 Cuba by Eric "Hellcats" Parker is a fluid and exciting sim which ran well on modest PC's. This sim was one of that rare breed which begged to be flown! The handling from taxiing to landing is pure flight sim joy! The wealth of detail, smoothness and sense of speed added up to an addictive experience.

Aces Collection Docking with a Zeppelin year:tags: description: This picture and others like it amazed me - I had assumed that aircraft docking with Zeppelins only occured in games like 'Crimson Skies' by Microsoft, but here it is in real life. (From the history of flight presentation included in this package).

Air Power Cold War year: 2000tags: 15 minutes of fun description: Here's a fun mission that takes only 15 minutes to fly using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002. You can fly the whole mission with one eye on the compass heading and one eye (and your camera) out the cockpit window.
The leg between B and C is through some winding valleys and will test your nerve at 200 feet! Don't forget to turn Terrain Mesh complexity to 100 %.

Air Power Cold War year: 2000tags: Installation description: In general the aircraft worked in FS 2002 (apart from minor issues), the sceneries should be deactivated due to flickering. Unless you don't mind flickering!

Avro Vulcan for CFS2 year:tags: Manual description: It's all very well to write a casual, conversational, checklist for a pilot who already knows his GPU from his franistazzit, let alone his Vulcanised franistazzit, but I really feel what's needed is a step by step list, in fact an idiot proof list of operations.

Avro Vulcan for CFS2 year:tags: Summary description: I hesitate to criticise a product which has probabably been a labour of love for the developers, and am are especially loath to discourage work on the classic '50's jets - but once a product starts competing for your sim-allowance then it has to measure up.
With no missions, dedicated bases, radio communications or working navaids the Vulcan seems very lonely in Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight year: 2001 developer: Blue Arrow publisher: Just Flighttags: description: The product is presented as a tribute to the BOBMF and a high standard of production is apparent throughout, from the full colour manual to the recreation of RAF Coningsby and the individual aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

European Air War Hurricane year:tags: description: "With over 15,000 Hurricanes built, the aircraft served on virtually every front; even remaining in front-line service as a ground-attack aircraft well after production ended. "

European Air War Hurricane I Instruments year:tags: description: "With over 15,000 Hurricanes built, the aircraft served on virtually every front; even remaining in front-line service as a ground-attack aircraft well after production ended. "

European Air War Me-262 year:tags: description: "Arguably, the Me262 left behind the greatest legacy of any WWII-era aircraft: the Jet Age. Entering combat in 1944, the Me262 could outrun anything in the Allied inventory, including the mighty P-51 Mustang."

European Air War Me. 262-A Instruments year:tags: description: "Arguably, the Me262 left behind the greatest legacy of any WWII-era aircraft: the Jet Age. Entering combat in 1944, the Me262 could outrun anything in the Allied inventory, including the mighty P-51 Mustang."

Flight of the Intruder year: 1990tags: description: Until Falcon 3.0 was released, Flight of the Intruder led the pack in features. I remember getting FOTI for the Atari ST, sometime after I came across Falcon, and being amazed at the depth of the simulation, especially the mission planning options.

Jet-Pilot year: 1996tags: description: "As far as I know, this was the only computer simulation based on the Lightning aircraft.
Had it been fully developed much earlier, it might have been a useful training aid for the RAF. It could have helped ground radar operators and controllers appreciate the pilots problems, etc."

MiGMan's curated videos

B-58 Bizarro B-58 year:tags: description: Chino reported: This is CLEARLY the Bizarro World version of the B-58 Hustler, the world's first supersonic bomber, and one of my all-time favorite planes! The only place I've seen a real B-58 is in the USAF Museum in Dayton (it's the Bendix Trophy winner). It's pretty cool. I believe it still holds world records in in some speed/distance/altitude categories.

Build your own trim device year:tags: description: In May 2006
Ed Bult
contacted me with details of his home-built trim control. With USB technology this sort of construction is cheaper and easier than ever.

F-16 cockpit: scale model year:tags: description:
My first cockpit was scaled fairly closely to the F-16 using calipers I multiplied the dimensions out to build a cardboard mockup and then a plywood and aluminium prototype. The F-16 cockpit turns out to be rather a snug fit! This is the 1/8 Scale model I used - assembled by PC.

Fly Aces cockpits year:tags: description:
A.C.E.S. F/A-18 AeroDomeÂ® and our new WWII AeroDomeÂ® both feature a large domed projection screen attached to the front of your cockpit. It gives you the effect of piloting your own Omni Theater.

Cat

Task

Application

Windows 7 64-bit compatibility

Action

Comms

VOIP

I was using X-Lite with my ISP's VOIP package (must remember to cancel that!)
Bought 30 days of Skype as a first trial of the service. It works well.

Must get a Skype-enabled phone.

Docs

Email client

Mozilla Thunderbird (Free).
Maybe it's time to start thinking more in terms of "mobility", and redirect my emails to Hotmail, let them store the data. Or just use WebMail to read from my mail servers. Do I really need to store most of my emails locally? No.

Docs

Web Browser

Installed version 3.6.13

Docs

Text editing

"NotesPad (freeware) Text Editor for Windows
Developed by Skip Bremer. Skip considers NotesPad to be "Old tech", it will not be supported.
Skip warns that the Uninstall does NOT work."

Topstyle and Windows notepad.

Docs

Acrobat 6.0

pdf authoringPrint-to-pdf drivers

- - - WIP

Docs

Spreadsheets

Bought this excellent e-book from http://shop.office-watch.com/ - Office 2010: the real startup guide. 400 pages of well presented information to get you started with Office 2010. It only cost $9.95 if you subscribe to one of their free newsletters.

Docs

Edit Word documents

Word 97

Bought Office 2010 which contains Word 2010

Data

Database

Microsoft Access 97
This venerable prog. is still pretty widely used apparently, but is is difficult to run in Win7. In order to do so I would have to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro and then download the Win XP virtual machine.
Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition is included as a demo in Win7. Check that out, but probably ...

Get Access 2010 ???
Move to MySql ???

Docs

Digital Comic Reader

Comical (free) - Last updated 20xx - a lightweight app. which does the job.

Comic Rack (free) - Last updated 2010. A much more ssophisticated prog. which used to slow my single core PC to a crawl as it managed the library.

Comic Rack (free) - Last updated 2010
The Microsoft .NET Framework is a software framework for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It includes a large library, and it supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability (each language can use code written in other languages.) The .NET library is available to all the programming languages that .NET supports. The framework's Base Class Library provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications.
Wikipedia

File Management

Windows Explorer

OTOH explorer in Win 7 is mighty impressive. It will take a while to "explore" all the options available in that.

File management

FTP

CuteFTP 6.0

Upgraded to CuteFTP 8 Pro - Price: $29.99

File management

Download Manager

GetRight Version: 6.3e
Runs on Windows 7

OK

File management

Backup

Foldermatch 3.4.8
Upgrade

Upgraded to 3.5.6: $15.00

File management

Join split archives

HJSplit Version: 2.3

Get v3.0

OK

Graphics

Image manager, tagger

Microsoft Office Picture Manager...
It wants to use "Libraries", and doesn't seem to offer a great deal of tagging. Investigate further

Media

Graphics

Screen grabber

HypersnapDX - Registered

Win 7 has a "Screen Clipper" built in, similar to the Mac tool. Still need hypersnap for game screens.

Media

Graphics

Image Editor

Paint Shop Pro 7
I have used this brilliant, lightweight image editor through 3 versions from 1998. Unfortunately since Corel acquired JASC, development seems to have ceased. People report various problems getting it to run in Win 7 64 bit.

Paint.NET seems popular, it is free and 64-bit. The forums seem active. I will give it a go.

> > > > I will need another prog to handle vector graphics. This is particularly useful in logo design.

Media

Video converter

Media

Video converter

DVD Shrink (free)
MS website reports a compatible upgrade is available, but v3.2.0.15 was dated 2004... Users do report it works OK

Media

Video Player

I stopped using Windows Media Player some years ago in favour of the excellent Winamp. For the past year I have used VLC for video viewing.

Media

mp3 player

Winamp does library functions well

??

Security

Anti-virus

AVG Registered version
The new new PC has McAfeeÂ® Antivirus installed

MacAfee gets good reviews. Being thoroughy embedded with the O/S, firewall etc. also gives it traction. Buy the 3 PC licence when trial expires

Yes - replace with Microsoft Security Essentials.

Security

Anti-virus

LavaSoft AdAware

Might be redundant...

Yes - replace with Microsoft Security Essentials

Security

Anti-virus

pyBot Search and Destroy

Replace with Microsoft Security Essentials

Security

Anti-virus

Ad-Aware - free plug-in for Firefox

Redundant? MacAfee does ad-blocking.

Yes - replace with Microsoft Security Essentials

Web Dev.

HTML Editorphpjavascript

Homesite 4.5

Problems reported in 64 bit. It is, after all, 10 year old code.
Adobe bought Allaire some years back and ceased development. The only upgrade path they offer is to the bloatware known as "Dreamweaver&quit;. After a bit of googling I found that HomeSite/Topstyle creator Nick Bradbury now publishes a new version of TopStyle. It was a CSS-only editor, now it is a full HTML, XHTML and CSS editor.

Easy Themes

The desktop themes supplied with Win 7 are very artistically put together. As well as rotating desktop backsgounds, they also change the appearance of the windows and the sound scheme. You change themes with a mere 2 clicks:

Gadgets

WIP description: Article - MiGMan's cockpit: the MiGpit MkIDate - Early 1990'sAuthor - MiGManDescription - I used to fly in my own home-built own cockpit. It was programmable if you had a day or so to spare!

The TRC 372 ATD is an affordable and versatile entry-level Aircraft Training Device. ... it uses mechanically driven instruments utilizing servomechanisms and electronics. It is a faithful, realistic copy of the instrument panel of the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, with all instruments in the exact same position as in the real aircraft. With fully functional knobs and dials that you can adjust exactly as you would in the original aircraft.

Real Simulator year:tags: description: Real Simulator are based in Spain and dedicated to manufacturing the most realistic possible F-16 cockpits, seats and rudder controls.

3dfx Interactive year:tags: description: 3dfx Interactive, Inc. is no longer providing support for any 3dfx products and drivers. Information about 3dfx is no longer available from the 3dfx.com website. Please be advised that on February 19, 2002, the 3dfx.com website will be shut down entirely.

Documentaries such as the Canadian "Jetstream", following CF/A-18 training becomes thrill-a-minute. In the BFM footage you feel as if you're right there, turning and burning. Animated features prove to have startling and satisfying 3D qualities. The Justice League Unlimited Season 2 'Flash and Substance' episode gave a real sense of the Flash's speed. Narrgh, words don't do it 'justice'. Get hold of it and try it for yourself.

Why defrag? - Your programs can access and load the necessary files quicker and most programs will then run faster. This is partcularly important in flight sims which have to access and update scenery data during flight, such as the Microsoft series of civil sims.

So the solution is to get a dedicated computer games sound system.
Advantages:

Virtually unbreakable

loud

Vibration

Multi-channel sound for better directional cues

Inexpensive

Light, easy to transport

The placement of the sub-woofer doesn't matter because low frequencies are omni-directional - although I suggest putting it directly under your seat for maximum effect! description: For years I've used Rogers studio monitors and a whopping great monster of an amplifier to provide my jet combat sound immersion. The sound is good, but lacks the thundering, rumbling bass you want in air combat and there's always the risk of blowing the tweeters. Thundering bass = more immersion - you can feel the flaps and gear cycle, feel when the wheels hit the runway, feel when the enemy slugs rip through your wings!

This is truly flying "by the seat of your pants".

Body Shakers year:tags: description: Mark Schimmer reported: "Recently I hooked a set of so called "Body Shakers" to my hifi rig. These are low frequency transducers (28 to 55 Hertz) which normally induce vibrations on walls or other large objects. They give a great tactile feeling, expecially on sounds like piston engines, slow firing guns, afterburner rumble and .... incoming fire (makes me almost leap out of the seat)."

Aura Interactor year:tags: description: Equipment - Aura Interactor - Force Feedback on your body
The rumble of the engine at 80% power could be felt through my body. I pushed up to full military power. The sensation was VERY nice. I kicked in the burner and WOW, my body was saturated with the feeling of power. - Len Hjalmarson - Combatsim